Armies, Battalions, and Gambits
Armies, Battalions, and Gambits; What They Are On D&D The Difference Between Most Campaigns In the world of Atalan and the universe of the Grancrest War Record, armies play a role more important then many other D&D games, whereas hundreds of men are focused on in a battle instead of a few heroes and villains. There are two differences for this when compared to most other 5e campaigns; the first and foremost is that a band of heroes, usually the players, are the focus, and that the campaign is tailored to their adventures. This is what all D&D should be, and the spotlight will remain mostly on the players. The big difference here, however, is that many campaigns mostly have a clear or evil enemy to defeat. In the universe we are set in, however, chaos is not an "enemy" that you can go head to head with. Instead, what replaces the "enemy" it is nations that are morally grey. There is no definite evil nation when you begin your adventure. The world had banded to defeat the present evil that is chaos, and that is by making the Grancrest. You are presented with many paths. One of the paths may be to wonder the world seeking a way to end the chaos or to explore, or to become more powerful. In the end, many realize that to do what they want most is to end the chaos, and, as stated before, it is creating the Grancrest. Another path may lead you to peacefully unite the crests, but that is a dead dream in such a political landscape. The path that lies for most after realizing the hard truth is to take matters into your own hands, whether that be taking the crests yourself or helping someone with the ambition to make the Grancrest. Armies Armies are armies. How do you represent armies in D&D while also being viable and fun mechanically, though? The answer lies through using differently sized battalions and standardized units in the battlefield. Don't worry, the DM knows what he's talking about and how to use them, but here's an overview of how you can understand too! Battalions HP / Battalion Strength / BAR 3 An individual unit's HP is its level times 5. The most common type of soldier found on a battlefield are typically CR 2 or 3. Assuming you are fighting a level 2 squad, the HP will be 5 x 2, to a total of 10 HP. A CR 3 squad will have 15 HP. A squad or battalion are usually groups of 5 men, thusly a CR 1 squad will have 25 HP, and a CR 2 squad will have 50 HP. A CR 3 squad of horsemen would have 75 HP. AC / Armor + Battle Flags / BAR 2 An AC of the most commonly found battalion is 15, as common soldiers are barely equipped with a chain shirt and a shield. Non-bullshit calculations here: Chain shirt: 13, + Shields 2 = AC 15. AC may be told by using a bonus action to do a perception check against the unit. Morale + Battle Flags + Strategies or Tactics / BAR 1 All units starting morale is 60, and will fluctuate wildly while in combat. You may typically make a perception or insight check to get a general number of where their current morale is. Morale under 40% will cause a battalion unit to roll morale, and a roll under 13 will cause their surrender or for them to flee. Their roll will include their wisdom modifier; they automatically fail if they are feared, and have disadvantage if intimidated, persuaded, or through other means. The same goes for allied troops; you may inspire battalions and restore their morale with a morale skill check. Any man who dies in a battalion will decrease their morale by 10. Any commander in a 50 ft. who dies will reduce all morale by 25. Gambits / Personal Squads Each character may roll tactics to attempt to activate a friendly battalion's gambit as either a bonus action or an action. If they are successful with an action, the character will charge and make an attack roll alongside the battalion. If the character activates a friendly battalion's gambit with a bonus action, then the gambit will charge or go off without the character. A character may attempt to activate a gambit with an action to also charge and attack depending on what kind of units they are. For example, to charge with cavalry means you must be mounted. To charge with infantry means charging with a melee weapon equipped. To attack with a volley, the character activating the gambit must have a bow equipped. The effectiveness of the gambit will rely on a tactics roll, or a strategy roll that was rolled before a battle started. A few examples are shown below: